Commuted Reprieve Restrictions Of Chinese Criminal Law

Commuted Reprieve Restrictions of Chinese Criminal Law Commuted reprieve restriction is a new penalty execution system of death penalty system of our criminal law. It is a legislative limitation on the court’s discretion on sentencing in death penalty cases. Commuted reprieve restriction institutionally makes up for the imbalance of our execution of punishment that death penalty is too heavy and the others are too light. As an executive selection attached to the death penalty, commuted reprieve restriction is as strict as between immediate death and stay of execution, which effectively fills the huge gap between the two penalty and makes the death penalty more in line with our criminal policy of combining punishment with leniency during the implementation. Severer than stay of execution, commuted reprieve restriction can quell the anger of victims and their families, making it easier for the parties and the society to accept the judgment. Also, it can be a deterrent to people who hasn’t committed a crime. They would fear to do it for the hash penalty. Lighter than immediate death, it offers the judges another option when determining the final sentence of a case. In this way, it can reduce the immediate death penalty, thus implementing the ‘ less prudent killings’ policy, our criminal law less criticized by foreign humanitarian pretext as well. Commuted reprieve restriction must clear the basic conditions, its objects, essential conditions and applying procedures to achieve the principle of legality. Of course, as a new established punishment execution method, it is inevitable that all kinds of problems show up while applying. Through the arrangement of academic point of views and the thinking of specific practice and theoretical issues, this article will analyze the commuted reprieve restriction theoretically and practically, and also put forward my own views. Commuted reprieve restriction is not logically strict in criminal laws and such a cut-right penalty doesn’t have a rights recovery system as the guarantee. Moreover, its applicable scope is too narrow. Crimes of endangering public safety, food safety and corruption and bribery are not involved; crime of organized violence is not clearly defined; provisions of recidivism are relatively general and vague. Substantive conditions to apply the commuted reprieve restriction are prescribed general and vague, too, particularly need to be defined. Procedure designs need to be strictly regulated as there are flaws as well. Therefore, in order to play a better role on its functions of correcting death penalty criminals and achieve the purpose of special prevention, commuted reprieve restriction needs to be further studied and improved.